Sherri Saum

Sherri M. Saum (born October 1, 1974) is an American actress. Saum currently stars as Lena Adams Foster in the Freeform drama series The Fosters. She is also known for her television roles in Beggars and Choosers, Rescue Me and In Treatment, as well as for her roles in the daytime soap operas Sunset Beach, and One Life to Live. 2Early life Saum was born in Dayton, Ohio to a German mother and an African-American father. She got her start at a Model Search America convention near her home in Kettering, Ohio. She was discovered during high school, modeling mostly during summer breaks until she moved to New York to work full-time with the NY modeling agency Images Management. Saum attended Ohio State University in Columbus, and New York University in New York. 2Career Saum began her acting career in the NBC daytime soap opera, Sunset Beach as Vanessa Hart, during the entire run of the series, from 1997 to 1999. In 1999 she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the show. Later in 1999, Saum was cast as a series regular in the Showtime comedy-drama series Beggars and Choosers (1999–2000), and guest-starred on Girlfriends, and Charme